Admin assistant by day, mess of an artist by night.
an unnecessarily in-depth art journey
2009 - 2012
Like any true artist, my humble beginnings started with replicating Sonic characters as a pre-teen. Quite literally traced them off my laptop screen and then rendered the pencil sketches in Photoshop Elements using the pen tool. Once I entered high school, I gradually transitioned away from Sonic at the exposure of anime (Shugo Chara and Fairy Tail consumed my life). I remember being extremely determined to draw and practice hands. By the end of 2012, I was gifted my first graphics tablet (Cintiq 12wx) which marked the start of my Christmas annual redraw! I quickly disposed of Photoshop in favour of PaintToolSAI :)
2013 - 2016
Deep in the deviantArt hellscape, I began taking requests in 2013 and commissions in 2014. I was straight up stealing art styles, borrowing techniques from artists such as, sonnyaws, ZenithOmocha, and sasucchi95. I also experimented with different mediums from watercolour to pixel art. In 2015 I developed a pencil style using hatching that I later coloured with an overlay in SAI. I think I also began streaming on Picarto.tv in 2015 or 2016 where I met a lot of long time art friends ♡
By the end of 2016 the backlight in my tablet already broke so values and colours were muted on my tablet screen （；´д｀)
2017 - 2019
The TAFE years ( ˘︹˘ )These years saw the decline in my ambition and mental health. In 1st year I had my first formal education in art where I learnt the fundamentals - line, shape, form, etc - and was introduced to gesture drawings. Armed with this, I experimented more with perspective, atmospheric lighting, painterly styles and somehow landed a spot in the charity artbook Revel 2018. However,
while my artistic ability was at its peak in 2018, everything else was at an all-time low and I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and put on medication :') I began questioning why I was drawing and if I even wanted a creative job. I barely drew anything in 2019 on account of my major portfolio for TAFE and stress over my future career.
2020 - 2022
I spent the panorama and the lockdowns trying to find my artistic voice and vision again. I analysed my old art, re-drew a month's worth of drawings from 2013 and tried new drawing programs to make up for the broken backlight. Then, foolishly perhaps, decided to study psychology for fun in 2021. This alongside a semi-full-time admin job denied me the time for art yet again. However, I was finally able to buy myself a new secondhand tablet (Cintiq 16)! I could actually see the full range of colours and values and could finally experiment with and learn colours properly. My inspirations switched to shiyumichan and hieihirai for colour and shading techniques. Come the end of 2022, I felt I had a solid grasp of an art style I could fully call my own :)
2023
I spent 2023 trying to simplify my style to balance the demands of new social media algorithms and a new job. I started off quite strong but by June I felt fully burnt out. Full-time in a real corporate job drained all my energy, creative or otherwise, and I couldn't dedicate the time I wanted to to drawing or any other hobbies. My physical health also took a nose-dive due to all the extra desk-sitting. I kept questioning how I could possibly fit art and corporate and health into my schedule. These stressors manifested in many a train sketch of despondent-looking personas. Come October, the budget cuts blessed me with redundancy! My co-workers offered a lot of advice and well wishes, reminding me that I have skills beyond the office life.
2024 onwards
For now, I'm content with part-time admin and part-time creative endeavours - from watercolour to felting, sewing, singing and streaming, etc. I'm planning to table at SMASH! and re-open commissions despite my diminished online presence. I still have no idea on a career path or any life goals, I just know I need both admin and art to stay sane.
Thanks for reading through my journey!
If you'd like to stay up to date, check out my Instagram, Twitch, or Ko-Fi page ♡
Jan '24 First illust of the year!
